Upper Street in Islington is close to Arsenal's football ground. The council has installed a wireless internet network along the road and parts of the A1.

Photo: Dan Ilett

This is Spots Dry Cleaners - a shop that is about to use the wireless service for CCTV...

Photo: Dan Ilett

Meet Naveed and owner of the shop, Engin Echref, who plans to install a high-tech till system that will email customers when their clothes have been cleaned...

Photo: Dan Ilett

The CCTV cameras will mean Engin can monitor the shop when he's not there. He says: "The cameras are high resolution and I can log on anywhere. If I get a call at 3am I can zoom in and pin point something in real time, plus the images are stored externally."

Photo: Dan Ilett

Now meet Thor - silicon.com's guinea pig for the wireless service. This café is just outside the town hall, so reception should be pretty good. Alas, it is not.

Photo: Dan Ilett

So Thor goes outside but still the signal is slow and weak...

Photo: Dan Ilett

Thor takes a walk down to the churchyard. Here reception is much better. "It's faster than an internet café," he says.